Chapter 330
So it turns out it's Originium Arts with a shield; no wonder it was so fearless.
There is no record of Evona possessing such an ability in the Armored Unarmored Alliance's archives.
Those intelligence officers really deserve a pay cut!
Platinum was positioned approximately one kilometer horizontally from Wild Mane Knight. Even if the Knight noticed the attack, he wouldn't be able to locate Platinum with the naked eye.
One last arrow, if that doesn't work, then forget it.
Confirming that the Wild Mane Knight had not changed position, Platinum drew his bow again, this time preparing to use all his strength.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind.
"Little girl, what are you doing?"
This shocked her, and she turned around in astonishment.
Platinum was completely unaware of the enemy's approach, and the warning devices set up on the stairs did not go off.
She gripped the bow handle, turned around, and fired a swift arrow!
Whoosh!
As Platinum shot the arrow, he turned around and was horrified to see that the arrow was hovering in mid-air!
"Lucky, the Lucky Knight?!"
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Without wasting any words, Shi Lei knocked Platinum unconscious.
They then brought the man and his bow back to the Pinecone Knights' meeting point in the infected area.
Upon learning that the assassins from the Armored Unarmored Alliance had been captured, Sona quickly led her team to the scene.
They transported the assassin to the basement and tied her to a chair with thick ropes. They then poured a basin of cold water on her face, forcibly waking her.
"Uh..."
Platinum regained consciousness, still in a daze. Her professional instincts as an assassin led her to immediately survey the people in the room.
Besides the Wild Mane Knight, the Flame Tail Knight, captain of the Pinecone Knights, was also present, as well as the Farfang Knight had escaped from Monique and had been missing for several days.
Even the Plastic Knight Sergiac, another target of the Armored Unarmored Alliance's efforts to eliminate, is here as well.
Sona had dealt with the Armored Unarmored Alliance before, and upon seeing Platinum's attire, she inquired:
"You're the newly appointed Platinum?"
Platinum lowered her head slightly, remaining silent. Her large, bright eyes looked pitiful.
Since she had fallen into the hands of the infected, she had to be prepared to die in the line of duty. This made her feel extremely regretful, as the TV series she watched every day was about to end before it even reached its finale.
She looked around but couldn't find the last man she saw before she fainted. She asked:
Where is the Lucky Knight?
"That's none of your business, Miss Platinum."
Sona approached and said seriously:
"Do you know what missions the two Azure Gold Rank have been busy with lately?"
Platinum licked her lips, knowing that she couldn't say everything now, nor could she say nothing at all.
If they refuse to cooperate, they might die on the spot. If they reveal everything, they will lose their usefulness.
Her eyes darted around, fixing on Sona in front of her:
"You should know that I only recently assumed the title of Platinum. There are many things in the Armored Unarmored Alliance that I am not very clear about. Moreover, the Lazurite rank is higher than the Platinum rank, so how dare I, as a subordinate, ask them what they want to do?"
However, they recently assigned me the task of monitoring Lucky Knight and Maria Saria. Future plans may revolve around those two.
Plastic Knight Sergiac, very concerned for his own safety, interjected from the side:
"And what about me? Did they mention me?"
Platinum blinked her big eyes and shook her head, saying:
"No, but it's possible they'll handle your matter personally, but I'm not sure about that."
Sergiac sneered upon hearing this:
"Heh, if it's the Azure Gold Rank personally arresting me, he really thinks highly of me. Flame Tail Knight, can I stay here and guard her with you? As long as she doesn't tip off the Armored Unarmored Alliance, I'll be safer."
Sona for a moment, then nodded in agreement:
"Okay, Wild Mane Knight will be in charge of the basement. You will assist in guarding the outside to prevent her from escaping."
Next, she reviewed Platinum for a while.
However, they were unable to obtain any valuable or substantial information from the other party.
Shortly after, Sona left the basement. She went outside and told the Lucky Knight the information she had gathered.
The Armored Unarmored Alliance is an assassin organization, not an armor repair shop or a charity. Anyone they're monitoring is highly likely to be their next target for elimination.
Shi Lei wasn't afraid of being attacked; he'd catch as many assassins as they came, and ideally, wipe them all out in one fell swoop.
Maria, however, was unaware that he was an ally and needed to consider how to protect her employer's safety.
Later that night, Shi Lei called Sophia and asked her to bring Maria to the designated hotel.
The Jade Shield's area of effect has reached its maximum radius of six kilometers. As long as he resides between the infected population area and the designated hotel, he can protect people in both areas from injury simultaneously.
July 10th, 9:00 PM
"Heh~"
Roy took a nap in the conference room, and when he woke up, night had already fallen.
He was about to clock out when he realized that Platinum hadn't returned yet.
"Um?"
If I remember correctly, Little Platinum was sent by Monique to assassinate Wild Mane Knight, right? It's so late and she hasn't returned yet. Could she have been captured?
Roy looked out the window at the sky, and after a moment of silence, dialed the other person's cell phone number.
Platinum is a ranged archer and rarely stays within 100 meters of her target. Calling her won't result in the kind of scene in TV dramas where the ringtone gives away the target.
After ringing five times, the call was connected.
"Hey, Little Platinum?"
Roy spoke first, but heard no response from Platinum. This immediately made him realize that Platinum had most likely been captured by the infected.
Oh, poor little Platinum. If I'd known she couldn't escape, I would have let Monique go by herself.
Roy sighed and continued:
"If you can't talk, that's fine. Just remember to take care of yourself, Platinum."
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
To prevent the enemy from locking onto the signal source during prolonged communication, thereby locating the headquarters of the Armored Unarmored Alliance.
July 11, 10:00 AM
This morning, it was the battle between Maria Saria and the Tomcat Knight.
The latter is not well-known, but his strength is probably above average among all Competitive Knight.
But for some reason, the Tomcat Knight did not play until the game officially started.
Given the competition rule that 'failure to appear within the allotted time is considered a forfeit,' Maria won and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Upon hearing the commentator announce the final result, the audience erupted in uproar, and discontent grew rapidly.
The clues were already apparent in Maria's battle against the Rust Copper Knight. It was as if a mysterious force was secretly ensuring Maria's victory.
At the time, considering the Rust Copper Knight's brutality and the many enemies he had made, the audience was generally understanding and didn't dwell on the outcome of the match.
Later, she participated in a special tournament, in the round of 64 to 32. Maria Saria was initially overwhelmed by the Left-Handed Knight Tesser, and had no chance to fight back.
The left-handed Knight, however, let Maria make the move, which ultimately led to his unexpected defeat.
Although Tester is known for his love of torturing opponents and mentally destroying them, this sudden upset has already made some viewers feel uneasy.
Later, when it came down to 32 to 16, the Commercial Union temporarily changed the rules, turning the individual battles into team battles.
Maria's ally, the Farfang Knight, was attacked and went missing, failing to appear on screen within the allotted time. This led viewers to believe that a hidden force was targeting her, forcing Nearl Family's youngest daughter into a two-against-one situation.
However, both members of the Snowheel Knights also failed to take the stage before the time was up. Behind the scenes, a fierce battle was taking place between the two forces, the details of which remain unknown.
Now, in the round of 16 to 8, there have been instances of contestants exceeding their allotted time and failing to appear. It's hard not to let the audience speculate wildly and conjure up all sorts of conspiracies and schemes.
Clearly, an exceptionally powerful force is protecting Maria's advancement. This force's influence is even capable of directly swaying the outcome of the Special Tournament.
Looking across the entirety of Kazimierz, only a handful of forces can achieve this. From an economic perspective, this force can only be the Commercial Union.
The lower bracket matches are so weak; the intention is too obvious, as if it were done on purpose.
Moreover, so many matches suspected of being fixed have now emerged, yet the Commercial Union has not held any press conferences to provide any explanation to the audience.
Many spectators who paid high prices for tickets from scalpers are now experiencing increasing discontent after several rounds of trouble. Their frustration is nearing its peak.
Today wasn't a day off, and many people took the day off to come watch the match. Maria simply showed up and won; there wasn't even a single actual battle.
You think you can judge me by my * Kazimierz profanity*?
From the audience, someone shouted loudly:
"A cover-up! A cover-up!"
Upon hearing this, the other audience members around him stood up in response, their voices growing increasingly unified:
"A cover-up! A cover-up!"
The sound grew louder and louder, spreading like a virus throughout the audience. More and more audience members, feeling utterly disgusted as if they'd swallowed a fly, joined in the chant:
"A cover-up! A cover-up!"
Gradually, the entire Bika Arena was filled with the deafening roar of the audience.
"A cover-up! A cover-up!"
The commentators were dumbfounded; they had no way to salvage the situation.
His voice, even through the microphone, couldn't drown out the shouts of "black box!" from the crowd.
Because the Knight Competition is the highest level of competition in Kasimia, unlike the preliminary rounds, the main tournament, which is the round of 16 to 8, is Live Broadcast live nationwide.
These shouts not only echoed throughout the arena, but also reached the ears of every listener.
"A cover-up! A cover-up!"
"A cover-up! A cover-up!"
Seeing the situation was turning against them, Sophia quickly led Maria away through the players' tunnel. If they stayed to attend the post-match press conference, wouldn't they be taking the blame?
Even after the match ended, the situation continued to escalate.
Upon learning of the situation, the Commercial Union immediately contacted major newspapers and television stations in the city, requesting that they refrain from discussing the matter and minimize its impact.
In an effort to divert public attention, the Commercial Union also released some scandals and gossip about popular celebrities.
For example, they might use tactics like late-night infidelity or having a child out of wedlock to try and divert public attention from today's game.
However, a breach in a thousand-mile dike cannot be completely stopped.
The news that the Commercial Union manipulated the competition and favored Maria to win the championship spread like wildfire in the streets and online.
This suspected match-fixing became a topic of conversation among the Kazimierz people. Confidence in the Commercial Union was subtly undermined.
When even a top-level competition is involved in match-fixing, it's unimaginable how many shady dealings are taking place behind the scenes.
People don't care what the truth is; they only believe what they think the truth is.